Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Democratic Senator Claire McCaskill’s campaign for re-election next year took a hit on Monday.

The Senator admitted she neglected to pay close to $290 thousand in back taxes on an airplane she co-owns with her husband.

McCaskill’s first problems with the airplane came amid reports that she improperly billed the government for travel to a political event.

She has returned that payment.

However, McCaskill says a deeper investigation of the plane discovered a failure to pay $287 thousand dollars in back property tax … an oversight that she takes full responsibility for.

"I know what people are going to think about this, because I know exactly what I would think—how in the world does something like this happen? Ultimately the problem is I didn’t do what I should have done. I should have been the one to take responsibility and check and make sure that it had been done properly," McCaskill says.

Missouri is one of the few states to charge property tax on airplanes. Unlike other taxes, owners are required to self report.

The GOP Senatorial Committee is demanding the release of tax records for the LLC that owns the plane, along with information on each of the flights she took. The Missouri Republican Party has filed an ethics complaint against McCaskill.